Saturday, May 25, 2013

Here is a link to a Word 2003 DCC spell template, as close as I could come to the actual formatting of the book without nanometer rulers and laser-kerning calipers. I have a couple of spells I'm fixing to convert so it's better than muckin' it up over and over. You'll need the Duvall package and Adobe Garamond Pro to swank it up like I do, but hey. There are alternates. Also, Duvall is free - much love to Mr. Paul Lloyd who makes the things we read so classy.

note: Between when I started this post and when I finished it, I sorted out Adobe Acrobat Pro and made an editable field-filled .pdf version for your happiness and general amusement. If you use it, include #newdccspell and describe it in action or something. That'd be cool.

Working on game-system emulation, since I want to see some older games in action. Nostalgia! Mostly Atari 2600 stuff, (ahh Pitfall 2) but some other things. Bushido Blade from the PSX. I've got a fancypants desktop system from a couple of years back that'll run just about anything, so I'm excited about giving it a spin.

Below the Root. Yeah. I'll crank that up, too. From the C64.

I think my eyes are bleeding from all this internetting and layout-laying.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Late-night thinking about Markov Chains and textual analysis brought me to this. I know/suspect/intuit that I am not the first to posit this process, but I mentioned it J.D. on the DCCRPG community and thought I would share the inputs and outputs. The text I've entered is hideous fluffy stuff from my Ssessarid tomb map from a few posts back, thusly:

"The entrance is an underground dome with a basin, guarded by caryatid columns who will attack if the players do not cleanse themselves in the basin's waters, first (Although this carries a risk of disease). Packs of ghouls crawl from the various holes in the structure and broke free to maraud when the hidden entrance was revealed in a rock slide. The whole complex is highly trapped - the Ssessarids loved Blue Cobra poison and the disfiguring scars that remain should interlopers not die shortly after injection. At the far end of the complex, 'asleep' on his bier, lies the body of the clan's founder, a ghul sorceror of some potency who does not hesitate to call upon his patron's representative - an elegant Naga with the face of a seductress. She has ties to the Yuan-Ti, and the crafty Serpent Men who first taught the clan to use and distill poisons, and who coached them in the arts of subterfuge. Since the geological event that re-opened the tomb, the ghul raiders have swept into the nearby town nightly to feast on children, the elderly, and local beggars. They had much wealth in life, and are jealous of their gold."

Here is the text in Google Latin (I always quake in fear of Latin owing to difficulties I had in college with it):

It appears that Firefox-form Google Translate dry heaves at the poor Latin prose my poor English prose generates. Firefox just wouldn't do it, but after a moment's hesitation, the mules in the back of Google Chrome (no doubt flogged relentlessly) made this - which I like better than my own starting text in some ways:

"Entrance into the expanse of the basin, guarded by columns CARYATIDES if any players not be overcome with purified water in the basin's first (though it carries a risk of disease). Packs of ghouls crawl out of their holes in the structure of various and broke free maraud secret entrance, when it was revealed in rockslide. Aggregate is highly trapped - Welcome Ssessarids Cobra venom is loved and disfiguring scars remain interlopers should die shortly after injection. At the far end of the complex, 'sleeps' in bed, lying down, the body of the founder of the nation, from Ghulam sorceror some power who do not hesitate to call a representative of the patron - a handsome face with Nagai PANDERESS. It contains whenever he turns up the Ti-yuan, and was the first of a discreet man who has taught us to make use of the family of the serpent, poisons, go down, and those in the arts of subterfuge also inflicted on them. When the members and re-opened the tomb to the next, I have destroyed the town of Ghulam Raiders of the nightly feast for children, old people, and the local beggars. But they have had many good things in life, and their gold rivals."

Panderess? That's good. Note, the all caps are Google's, not mine. I think it's a neat thing, and I wonder what could be got by using e.g. Urdu or Arabic or French. Wait - why wonder? Here is the output from the Gujarati iteration, which appears beautiful and sinister in plain text form, like a basket of poisonous Nagai:

"Players into the basin's waters, the attack will not cleanse himself, guarded by a caryatid column is a basin with an underground dome, (although this carries the risk of disease). Packs of Ghouls crawled from holes and hidden in the structure of a rockslide was revealed to be a robbery, breaking free. The whole complex is very trapped - Ssessarids Blue Cobra venom is loved and disfiguring scars interlopers that should not die soon after injection. The face of a seductress with a magnificent Naga - at the end of the complex away from the 'asleep' on his bier, clan founder's body, do not hesitate to call on behalf of his patron, a ghul sorceror some strength lies. He has ties to the Yuan-Ti, and taught the first descent of the Serpent Men astute use poisons and distill, and were trained in the arts of subterfuge. Tomb reopened to the geological phenomenon, ghul raiders children, the elderly and to feast on the local beggars night is swept up in a nearby town. He lives in a property, and is jealous of his gold."

Substantially the same, but different enough to make it confusing and misleading and perfect for throwing impetuous players into the maws of some beast. Muwahaha. Mayhap Google Translate could be a tool you use in your campaign, I dunno. Just a fun time sink.

Enough! Back work to need I am must having go to and cleanse myself of usage internet else boss-attacked I am becomed.